Gianiou

Wednesday 5th November

No wind, sunshine and hot so the fishing boats are msking the most of this wonderful weather. The trouble is they are out all hours and in the stillness of the night their engine noise echos around and disturbs me.  I can usually sleep through anything you care to throw at me!

We decided a walk to the mountain village of Gianiou near to Lefkogia would be nice and we could walk along the track to Preveli Monastery if we felt energetic enough.  We could also have lunch in the small taverna in Lefkogia again.  Climbing up the road leading to the village we had

some great views of the surrounding countryside, especially the area leading into Frati Gorge where the small white church stood out sheltered under the steep cliff at the start of this Gorge.  Further up the hill a white church with a blue roof also made a lovely photographic stop, for Julia and I anyway.  The men were always ahead of us.  In the village one of the old ladies sitting in the sunshine seemed pleased to see us.  

The village cats were also enjoying the sunshine, they seemed to be everywhere. 

 

Exiting the village and climbing up a rough road behind we decided it was too hot for more climbing and it would be as bad coming back so it was back down to the car and into Lefkogia. The taverna was very busy today most of the patrons being foreigners. 

After lunch we went on the beach in Plakias as a suitable breeze had developed to enable Keith to do a spot of kite flying.  Meanwhile the rest of us played boules, Ian getting bloody knees as he fell onto the gritty sand whilst laughing at me.  Yiannis and Athanasia passed by slowly in their car tooting the horn and waving frantically to us.  They had been on the beach swimming about 300 metres from us and had tried to attract our attention but failed to do so.

There was no school today for Lambros as the teachers were on strike and so we had promised to play jian qiu, a Chinese game that is played with a large weighted shuttlecock and passed between players generally standing in a circle using only the foot, and boules when we got back. So we spent a couple of hours more getting plenty of exercise before the sun set.

We decided to eat at 'Panorama' in Mirthios tonight but when we arrived found the place was closed.  So much for them saying they would stay open until the end of December.  Thakfully 'Kastro' was open and so once again had an enjoyable meal returning home well and truly rakied!